Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) provide icons (and thumbnail images) to help users quickly recognize and distinguish elements on a display. As compared to textual elements, icons are easier to recognize and are more easily and quickly distinguishable to a user. Additionally, icons may incorporate a variety of colors and cues to provide users with additional information. For example, an icon may be “greyed-out” when its functionality is unavailable or an icon may pulse or flash when it requires the user's attention. While such indicators may be applied to textual elements, textual elements usually occupy more screen area than icons (depending on the length of the text) and text may be difficult to read if it is greyed-out or flashing. By contrast, icons offer an easily-recognizable, information-dense medium to quickly convey information, indications, and additional visual cues to the user. As a result, icons and thumbnails have often been used in-lieu of or in-addition to textual elements within a GUI.
Further, a device's screen size directly impacts the size of the displayed graphical elements, and most notably impacts the size of textual elements. Due to the continuing move toward greater device mobility, users are interacting more regularly with devices that have smaller screen sizes. Cellular telephones, tablets, and even most laptops feature screens that are smaller than screens that are traditionally available with desktop computers. While the resolution and pixel density of screens has increased in recent years, improved text sharpness does not necessarily make smaller text more legible. As a result, mobile GUIs have relied even more heavily on graphical representations of information and graphical interface elements to enable quick operation and avoid user frustration.
Regardless of screen size, available screen real estate is at a premium in modern computing environments. An ever-increasing number of widgets and applications are vying for visibility on the user's screen. GUIs that present too much information may frustrate or stress the user, while applications that present too little information may be perceived as basic or underpowered. As a result, software developers and user experience designers must find novel ways to present the right amount of information without removing functionality or introducing clutter.
Some UI items (e.g., applications, sites, data, and utilities) may have default icons or thumbnails that are created by their developer. However, this is not the case for all items. Further, current methods for automatically creating an icon or thumbnail for items that do not have a default icon have been restricted to using a single character that is based on the first letter of the title (e.g. string) of the item. This leads to duplicate icons for items that begin with the same letter, which may slow down user recognition of these items.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that examples have been made. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the examples should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background.